Ice Drop tutorial

Thursday, December 23, 2010

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I thought I'd better catch up a little with my blogging. I probably won't be posting again before the New Year, so here goes...

On Monday we had our Soup Club Christmas party at my house... soup, snacks, and movies! Great fun! From left to right... Peggy, me, Edna, and Judy.

Yesterday I received a surprise package from Battatter... totally unexpected! Isn't the gingerbread house adorable? Thank you, Carol!

I received Jane's wonderful magnetic butterfly bookmark earlier this week. Thank you, Jane! It's fabulous! I've already put it to work. No, it's not a tatting book. I have a PIG mentality... Problem with Instant Gratification. I've been tatting, but I needed to finish something quickly, so I turned to crochet. It seems I'm doing a little bit of everything lately!

Robert in northern Iowa sent me this sweet little Christmas stocking ornament as a thank you for winning one of my blog giveaways. Thank you, Robert! I love Christmas stockings!

Yes, I have been tatting. I won this pretty little linen hanky on eBay. The original stickers were still on it. The original sold at a price of 6/$1.00. Amazing! The edging is from The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M. Attenborough. I think I found this book at Alibris, but it's been so long, I'm not sure. It's an old library copy. Oh, how I wish that the trend in the 70s had not been to dispose of dust jackets! I really would have liked to see what this one looked like. If anyone out there in Tatland has this book with a dust jacket, would you mind posting a picture? The thread is size 80 Lizbeth, color #121 Marble. The pinks in the thread and the hanky match perfectly! The shuttle is one of Chris Hinton's new Tatted Shuttles, an epoxy shuttle with tatting embedded in it. The tatting in this shuttle is by AnneB. The shuttle holds a ton of thread, and it's a joy to use!

Here are the crocheted motifs I've been working on... all finished Tuesday night and Wednesday morning! I have no idea what I'll do with them, but they're lovely little bits of lace, so who cares!? My mom made my blocking board for me several years ago. I bought a styrofoam board, and some gingham table cloth material, flannel backed vinyl. My mom's a whiz at stuff like this, so she put it all together, and I don't mind saying that it's probably my most used craft tool! Thanks, Mom!

Last, but not least, I was visiting InTatters this morning, and someone posted that she was having a problem understanding a bookmark pattern. I guess I was in the mood for a challenge! I printed off the directions, and started the bookmark this morning. It seems like a pretty straightforward pattern to me. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm using size 40 Lizbeth, color #116 (I think... I lost the tag). The shuttle is one of my decoupaged Sew Mates. I used sparkly Christmas fabric. I really like the combination of fabric and no point shuttles. Maybe I should come up with a shuttle-a-month for the next year! ; )

Well, if you've made it this far, I'm impressed with your stamina! I wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and a safe, healthy, and happy new year!

Monday, December 20, 2010

I finished making and wrapping my Christmas presents yesterday. The Soup Club Christmas party was at my house today... snacks, soup, and movies! And now I'm ready to tat!

One of my artistic friends, Jennifer, agreed to "play" with some of my shuttles. Aren't they great? They're so much prettier in person. I think the first thing I'll do is tat something pretty for Jennifer as a thank you!

Monday, December 13, 2010

I've been busy working on Christmas gifts, and so tatting has kind of fallen by the wayside. Yesterday, I just had to tat! I decided not to wait until the last minute to make my bookmark for the One Bookmark A Month challenge at The Tatting Forums. In November, I finished Stumpy at the last minute!

This is a new pattern called Supermodel Bookmark from grrrlshapedthing over at InTatters. It was fun and easy to tat! I used size 40 Lizbeth, color #116.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

I really tried to be a good girl and wait until Christmas, but the child in me just couldn't resist the temptation! My two exchange packages from The Tatting Forums arrived the other day. I did manage to resist for a while! ; )

Heidi sent me a beautifully decorated ornament, a lovely little bag, a spool of Country Mama thread, and a decorated pastel Clover shuttle. I LOVE it all! Thank you, Heidi!

My other exchange gift was from Karrieann... oh, my! So many goodies! ...a box of chocolates, Mentos gum, a tatted angel mounted on red felt... and then, there was a beautiful little tea bag with a tatted edge on the flap. And guess what was inside? Tea! Oh, and did you notice the beautiful little box, decoupaged with a lovely purple fabric and decorated with tatted butterflies and a tatted edging? Guess what was inside? ...some of Krystledawne's lovely HDT, Burt's Bees hand salve, and a Clover shuttle decorated to match the box. All of this was sent in an adorable Christmas tin. I LOVE it all! Thank you, Karrieann!

I think I'm the luckiest recipient in this exchange! Somehow, it doesn't seem fair that I should have received so much. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else receives!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

I've become rather jaded when it comes to weather predictions. We never seem to get as much snow as the weatherman says we will. Still, we did get a light cover of snow last night. When daylight arrives, I may discover that there's more than I think. My fingers are crossed! I LOVE snow! It's ice that I despise!

I finished this pretty little snowflake last night. It's Snowflake 2 from Festive Snowflakes & Ornaments for Needle and Shuttle Tatters, edited by Barbara Foster. This was a fun pattern to tat, but I think I'll make some changes with the next one. First, I'll use a slightly smaller long picot for the center ring. I like the length of the fringe-like picots, but I switched to a smaller picot for the tips. Next time, I think I'll make all those picots the same size. As I was tying off the last chain, I found a strange loop of thread in the first ring. I'm not sure how it got there, but it's something I'll watch for next time!

It took me a while, but I've finally decided which of the four Tatsy shuttles to keep for myself, and which three should be shared. This was a very difficult choice! Red is my mom's favorite color. Blue is my favorite color. The amber shuttle just plain looks cool!

Why Tatsy shuttles? I love them! They're perfect for winding a skein of HDT. If I'm working on a large piece, such as a doily, I don't have to join new thread as often, if at all. They're perfect for my beloved Spinning Wheel glass mat!

Yes, they can be cumbersome, and they do slow me down a lot! However, I am not, and have no desire to be, a speed tatter.

So, this holiday season I want to share my love of Tatsy shuttles with three lucky people. This will be another quick draw... tonight! So, if you're at all interested, please make sure you post a comment today!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Look at what arrived in the mail yesterday! A wonderful Christmas surprise from Marie! I wasn't thinking Christmas at all... I stayed home from school with a nasty sinus headache and slept the day away. I didn't even think about it being the first of December! Anyway, Dave gave me the mail, and it sat on the counter for a little bit... I just didn't feel like looking at it. Then I noticed that there was a bulky envelope... definitely not a bill!

Of course, I had to open it! I'm thrilled with all the goodies inside. I've long admired tatted pieces with letter beads, and now I have one in my favorite color! The decorated shuttle (again, my favorite color!) is perfect! ...and an ornament with beautiful Cluny tallies in the center, floss threaders, a beautiful bookmark designed by Edda Schneider. I am overwhelmed!

To top it off, Marie included a picture of her Christmas tree overflowing with beautiful tatted snowflakes! I feel a snowflake binge coming on!

Thank you very much, Marie! You have started my Christmas season off beautifully!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Last week, Tatskool blogged about her luscious ChocoMango thread, which I was lucky enough to test-tat for her! Fox emailed me, asking which pattern I had used. Honestly, it had been a while, so I couldn't remember. Luckily, my Mary Konior books were right where they should be, and I was able to identify the pattern as "Mixed Bouquet" from A Pattern Book of Tatting.

Christmas colors have been calling me lately, so I decided to revisit this pattern using size 40 Lizbeth, color #116.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

That's right, blog buddies, this is my 500th post! I've been waiting for the Thanksgiving hoopla to get over before publishing this post, so that everyone who wants to can have the opportunity to win one of 5 prizes.

Yup, 5 prizes, because 5 is my favorite number!

What are the prizes? I guess you'll have to post a comment and hope you win one so that you can find out!

Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you in case you're a winner.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

First, I received my tatting press from Ann. It is even prettier in person! And look at all the goodies Ann sent with it... I'm going to be having a blast after Thanksgiving! Thank you, Ann! (Special note to Ann: It took me 7 tries to get this bow. I may have to come take lessons from you!)

Then, I stopped at my friend Denise's house after school yesterday. Look at all the goodies she gave me! She found some lovely Christmas scrapbooking paper for me to play with, some fancy stickers, jewels, glitter nail polish, and most importantly... Denise blinged two shuttles for me. Please click for a close-up... they're fabulous! Thank you, Denise!

And let's not forget tatting! Yes, Fox, I finished my third Iris Niebach motif! I'm not sure if it can replace my beloved Spinning Wheel glass mat, but it is a lot of fun to tat! I think I may have to tat a few more for Christmas gifts!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

My dry spell appears to be over! I've managed to tat two snowflakes without any major snafus! These are Motif #11 from DMC Festive Tatting. I used size 20 Lizbeth, color #670 and #685.

I've probably thrown away 5 or 6 snowflakes in the past couple of weeks. I messed them up so badly that I didn't want to even try to fix them. It's really very discouraging to mess up simple patterns over and over again!

Now, to work on my very soothing Spinning Wheel glass mat... it's halfway done with no mistakes!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

I LOVE plaid! I believe my first pair of glasses were plaid... it's hard to remember... I was 3 1/2 at the time. In high school, pastel plaid skirts were very popular, and although I never owned one, I thought they were beautiful! My senior year in high school, I made myself a plaid jumper to wear to church for Christmas Eve services... one of my mother's friends made the same jumper pattern out of the same fabric... Mom said it showed that we both had good taste! When I was in college, my mom made a long plaid skirt for me to wear to a Christmas party. When my first granddaughter was born, I made plaid receiving blankets for her. My favorite wool throw is plaid. Need I go on?

So, when I saw this plaid Christmas fabric, I thought it would be perfect for decoupaged shuttles. These were going to be Christmas presents, but I like them so much, I think I may keep them for myself... I know that's extremely selfish, but that's how I feel!

I chose to align the plaid differently on each side. I am so pleased with the way these turned out!

Now I think I can stop bidding on those plaid shuttles that I can't really afford! : )

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Yes, I have been tatting, but I haven't completed anything. I have three almost finished projects, but I'll save them for another day. When I take a break from tatting, I knit or decoupage! Here are my latest pieces...

Pastel Clover shuttles decoupaged with origami paper.

Side one of Sew Mate shuttles with no point, decoupaged with origami paper.

Side two of Sew Mate shuttles with no point, decoupaged with origami paper.

Sew Mate shuttles decoupaged with decorative napkins and bejeweled.

Side one of Tatsy shuttles decoupaged with origami paper.

Side two of Tatsy shuttles decoupaged with origami paper.

I'm looking forward to trying the Tatsy shuttles. I like that I can wind a full skein of HDT on one shuttle, but I don't like the fact that the thread catches on the raised letters. Looks like that problem might be solved!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

With the last swap, I was open to anything tatting related. This time I'd like to swap for decorated shuttles. Are you interested?

I think this pink shuttle is my favorite in this batch. Marty asked if the thread caught on the "jewels." I couldn't honestly answer, because I hadn't tried the shuttles out. So, last night I tatted a Stumpy motif. There are three coats of Mod Podge and a coat of sealer. I had no problem with the thread catching, so I think all those coats are doing their job! ~ swap with tattabugg

It's hard to tell with the sun shining on this amber colored shuttle, but I used a wine theme napkin. I think it's really pretty! ~ for Lace Rn

Maybe the purple one's my favorite! This is the one that caught Marty's eye! ~ swap with TypsTatting

Lily said she was "green with envy" over this one. It is pretty! ~ swap with Lily

Although I love the teal shuttle, this is my least favorite of the group. The napkins become translucent with the Mod Podge. It's hard to tell, but this side has coffee beans. Since you can see through the Sew Mate shuttles, I should have decoupaged only one side.

I love the back side... coffee shows up so clearly! This should have been the top. ~ for Val

Anyway, if you're interested in swapping one of these shuttles for one of your decorated shuttles, please leave a comment. As before, I'll swap with the first person to leave a comment for each color.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

For those of you who have been reading my blog, you may recall that I decided to swap some decoupaged shuttles. I received my first swap package this week from A Happy Bluebird!

Not only did I receive a beautiful shuttle, I also received some napkins for experimentation!

I discovered that decoupaging with napkins requires a much lighter hand than with scrapbooking paper. This time I decided to use Sew Mate shuttles. I also decided that some "jewels" would add just the right touch of sparkle! I found that the napkin wrinkled more readily than the scrapbooking paper, but I'm pretty pleased with the results of my first experiment with napkins.

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About Me

I'm a retired elementary computer teacher/librarian, mother to four, grandmother to seven. I love lace. I love books. I love to collect. Now that I'm retired, I know I'll never be bored because I have so many interests, as well as the goodies I need to indulge my whims!